LESSON 11 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Iceberg Ahead!
by Nate Pervil
Fountas-Pinnell Level R
Nonfiction
Selection Summary
Eleven stories high, costing $7.5 million, the enormous passenger
ship Titanic promised a memorable voyage for its 2,200 passengers.
Little did anyone know that only 705 passengers would live to tell of
the missed radio warnings, moonless night, and still waters that led
to the ship’s fatal collision with a massive iceberg.
Number of Words: 1,240
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Nonfiction
• Third-person narrative
• Numbered points
• Log entries listed in time sequence
• The historical sinking of the Titanic
• Heroism and tragedy
• Even the big and powerful can be defeated.
• Some people become heroes during times of crisis.
• Panicking in an emergency can cost lives.
• Dramatic language punctuated by exclamation points
• Vivid verbs: looming, jutted, blares, slams
• Metaphoric language: hungry for news
• Multiple series of short sentences add to the drama of the scene.
• Exclamations
• Many ship terms, most of which should be familiar: captain, radio operator, warning bell,
crew, lifeboats, on board
• Multisyllable words: carrying, happened, another
• Photos, map, and replicated documents (poster, newspaper) support the text.
• Fourteen pages of text, brief chapter headings, and illustrations on most pages.
• Table of contents and index
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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Iceberg Ahead!
by Nate Pervil
Build Background
Help students use their knowledge of ships to visualize the selection. Build interest by
asking questions such as the following: Have you ever ridden in a boat or a ship? What
do you remember most about your trip? Read the title and author and talk about the cover
illustration. Explain that the passenger ships were the only way people could travel across
oceans in the early 1900s.
Introduce the Text
Guide students through the text, noting important ideas and nonfiction features. Help with
unfamiliar language so they can read the text successfully. Give special attention to target
vocabulary. Here are some suggestions:
Page 3: Explain that this is a selection about the 1912 voyage, or sailing trip, of the
passenger ship Titanic. Suggested language: Turn to page 3 of this book. Read the
caption. The poster says that the Titanic was the largest steamship in the world.
Why do you think this fact appeared on the poster?
Pages 4–5: Point out that captions can give clues about information in the text.
Explain that the Titanic’s captain received warnings about ice in the water. Ask:
What do the captions on these pages tell you?
Pages 6–8: Read the caption on page 8. Explain that the Titanic collided. Ask:
What do you imagine the passengers might have felt and heard when the ship hit
the iceberg? Why would passengers feel dismay if they knew ice was looming?
Page 9: Explain that the Titanic splits in half with a loud roar, before all lights go
out and “an eerie silence follows.” Why do you think the author chose eerie to
describe the silence? How do people react to eerie sounds?
Now return to the beginning of the selection and read to learn more about what
happened when an “unsinkable” ship met a massive iceberg.
Target Vocabulary
collided – crashed into forcefully,
p. 6
frothing – foaming and bubbly,
p. 10
mounting – increasing or
growing, p. 9
desperation – a hopeless, very
anxious feeling, p. 9
jutted – stuck out or up sharply,
p. 6
receded – moved back or away
from a point, p. 13
dismay – sudden unhappiness or
worry, p. 7
looming – coming into view in a
threatening way, p. 6
stabilize – provide balance and
security, p. 9
eerie – weird in a disturbing way,
p. 9
Grade 6
2
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Read
Have students read silently while you listen to individual students read. Support their
understanding of the text as needed.
Remind students to use the Summarize Strategy
in their own words the important parts of the text as they read.
and to briefly restate
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the selection.
Suggested language: Why did the Titanic collide with an iceberg and sink? How do you
think this disaster could have been prevented?
Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, help students understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text
Thinking Beyond the Text
Thinking About the Text
• The Titanic set sail for New York
having been warned about an ice
field.
• People need to stay calm in an
emergency.
• The dates and times in the
section heads build suspense for
the reader.
• Failing to receive later warnings,
the Titanic collided with an
iceberg.
• Although some passengers left
in lifeboats, most died with the
ship or in the icy waters.
• Some people act like heroes in
an emergency.
• People who are responsible
for the safety of others need to
carefully do their jobs.
• The short sentences in the
logged section of text sound
realistic, as if someone were
actually writing a log or journal
in an emergency.
• The author includes lots of
details about the iceberg and
surroundings to help the reader
visualize the horrible situation.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support
• Fluency Invite students to choose a passage from the text to read aloud. Suggest that
they try reading a couple of pages of the log as if they were a broadcaster reporting
the event.
• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion,
revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go
back to the text to support their ideas.
• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using
examples from the text. Remind students that a syllable can be a single vowel sound
in a word. For example, the word collided (page 6) has three vowel sounds and,
therefore, three syllables: col lid ed. Words are also composed of morphemes. A
free morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a word, while a bound morpheme
is a morpheme that is always attached to another. The word collided contains two
morphemes: the free morpheme collide and the bound morpheme, the suffix –ed.
Grade 6
3
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Writing about Reading
Vocabulary Practice
Have students complete the Vocabulary questions on BLM 11.1.
Responding
Have students use their Reader’s Notebook to complete the vocabulary activities on page
15. Remind them to answer the Word Teaser on page 16. (Answer: eerie)
Reading Nonfiction
Nonfiction Features: Index and Text Structure Remind students that nonfiction has many
features to help readers find and understand important information. The index and the text
structure are two of these features. Explain that an index contains key words and phrases
in the text as well as the number of the page on which each can be found. An index helps
the reader find a particular idea or topic in a text. Reading the index in a nonfiction book is
a quick way to locate information the reader wants to review or relearn. Have students find
a word from the text that they feel should be added to the index.
Text structure is another important source of information. The way information is
presented helps the reader organize and understand the text. Have students look again
at the text on pages 5–11. Ask how the structure of the text on these pages helps the
reader (organizes events by time, shows the increasing desperation of the situation, builds
suspense, helps the reader understand how quickly things happened). Then have students
use the same structure to write an entry about something passengers may have done
between two listed times in the text.
Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the Text
Have students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they
think beyond the text, they use their personal knowledge to reach new understandings.
Assessment Prompts
• Why is the first paragraph on page 3 important to the book?
• Which words on page 9 help the reader understand the meaning of the word
mounting?
• What is the author’s point of view on the subject of the Titanic’s accident?
Grade 6
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Pair English-speaking and English language learners so that they
can check their understanding with each other.
Cultural Support The Titans were powerful gods in mythology that, according to
legend, ruled Greece during the Golden Age. The word titanic, therefore, means “of
enormous size, strength, and power,” which certainly fits the ship of the same name.
Oral Language Development
Check student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’
English proficiency level Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.
Beginning/Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: What is the book about?
Speaker 1: Why does the radio operator
ignore ice warnings on April 14?
Speaker 1: Why was Molly Brown
a heroine in the Titanic disaster?
Speaker 2: He ignores ice warnings
because he is busy sending
passengers’ messages.
Speaker 2: Molly Brown was a
heroine in many ways. She gave
her warm fur coat to a man who
was wet and cold. She helped
row the lifeboat in which she was
riding. She also gave comfort to
women who had to watch their
husbands die with the sinking
Titanic.
Speaker 2: the sinking of the Titanic
Speaker 1: When did the Titanic leave
England?
Speaker 2: April 10, 1912
Speaker 1: Why is the Californian
better able to help the Titanic than the
Carpathia?
Speaker 2: The Californian is closer to
the Titanic.
Lesson 11
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 11.1
Date
Target Vocabulary
Iceberg Ahead!
Target Vocabulary
Fill in the blanks in the Column Chart below with your ideas about
the Target Vocabulary words. Then complete the Column Chart with
three of the remaining Target Vocabulary words. Possible responses shown.
Vocabulary
eerie
stabilize
receded
jutted
frothing
dismay
desperation
Word and Definition
eerie: strange or
causing uneasiness
mounting
looming
collided
This word makes me
think of . . .
an abandoned house
This word might also
be useful for talking
about . . .
a dark night,
watching a scary
movie
receded: went back
the tide
floodwaters disappearing,
an army retreating
jutted:
a peninsula of land, like
Florida
a child sticking out his
lower lip, a mountain cliff
stuck out
Target Vocabulary
3
Grade 6, Unit 3: Going the Distance
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11.01_6_246260RNLEAN_Target VocaSec1:3 Sec1:3
Grade 6
5
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First Pass
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Name
Date
Iceberg Ahead!
Thinking Beyond the Text
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in one or two
paragraphs.
Remember that when you think beyond the text, you use your personal
knowledge to reach new understandings.
On page 12, the narrator says: “Newspaper reporters are there gathering
information. They know that their readers are hungry for news.” What does
the expression hungry for news mean? Should people be hungry for news
of a disaster? Why or why not?
Grade 6
6
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Lesson 11
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 11.1
Date
Target Vocabulary
Iceberg Ahead!
Target Vocabulary
Fill in the blanks in the Column Chart below with your ideas about
the Target Vocabulary words. Then complete the Column Chart with
three of the remaining Target Vocabulary words.
Vocabulary
eerie
stabilize
receded
jutted
frothing
dismay
desperation
Word and Definition
eerie: strange or
causing uneasiness
mounting
looming
collided
This word makes me
think of . . .
an abandoned house
receded: went back
jutted:
Grade 6
This word might also
be useful for talking
about . . .
a dark night,
floodwaters disappearing,
an army retreating
a peninsula of land, like
Florida
7
a child sticking out his
lower lip, a mountain cliff
Lesson 11: Iceberg Ahead!
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Student
Lesson 11
Date
BLackline master 11.23
Iceberg Ahead! • level r
page
Iceberg Ahead!
Running Record Form
Selection Text
3
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
On April 10, 1912, a ship left England for New York City. It
was carrying more than 2,200 passengers and crew. The ship
was called the Titanic and what a fitting name. It was huge!
The Titanic was as tall as an 11-story building. It was as
fancy as some of the best hotels in the world. And many
people thought that it was so well built, it could not sink. But
they were wrong.
The Titanic never reached New York City. Only 705 people
who boarded the Titanic would survive. What happened to the
Titanic?
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/96 × 100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 6
Behavior
Error
0
0
1
8
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cat
cut sc
0
Insertion
the
1
Word told
T
cat
cat
ˆ
Error
1414242
Behavior
1
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